3-Cushion
SEOUL - On the starting day of the PBA Finals, featuring the 32 best players in the Korean pro league, the Europeans took a leading role. Four of five players in the top five of the rankings after the first day are players from European countries. Frédéric Caudron, David Zapata, Birol Uymaz and Filippos Kasidokostas had a flawless start with 3-0 victories over their opponents. Caudron and Zapata recorded the best averages of sixteen winners: 2,143. Two Korean contenders, Hyun-min Seo and Min-gu Kang, have to chase in their next matches after losses in the first round. Turkish player Savas Bulut excelled with the maximum run of 15 in one set, but lost his match to Jun-hyuk Im. The second Belgian, Eddy Leppens, defeated multiple PBA finalist Min-gu Kang. Dutchman Glenn Hofman launched himself with a nice victory over the group leader Seong-youn Yeong 3-2 and 1,926 on average.
Sixteen matches of 48 in the group stage kicked off the opening phase of the preliminary rounds in the Final Four. In the eight groups, the battle for first two spots will take place to reach the top sixteen. The four Europeans on top of the rankings had a strong start and were not threatened at all by their opponents. The most striking player of the four unbeaten winners was David Zapata, who beat his countryman Javier Palazón, one of the last tournament winners, by a comfortable score: 3-0 (15-3, 15-11 and 15-3, averages 2,368/1,000).
Eddy Leppens was another remarkable starter in his match against Min-gu Kang, who reached four finals in an individual PBA tournament. The Belgian had a flashy start with set wins 15-7 and 15-8 in 5 and 4 innings, but saw the Korean opponent level the match in the third and fourth set 15-9 and 15-11. In the decider, Leppens took the win 11-5 in 8 (averages 1,605 and 1,351). Glenn Hofman, after losing the first set (15-4 in 7), levelled 1-1 in the second set after trailing 14-7, but still won 15-14. The Dutchman won the third set 15-6 in 5, but let the Korean come alongside again 15-7 in 7. In the decisive fifth set to 11 points, the Dutchman showed to be the most cool player, 11-6. Hofman averaged 1,926, his losing opponent even 2,154.
Frédéric Caudron and Filippos Kasidokostas, the two top contenders, both had a smooth start. The Belgian defeated Seong-won Mun 3-0, the Greek was too strong for Dong-woo Han 3-0. One of the notable losers in the first round was Colombian Robinson Morales, who was match winner for Heroes in the team league, but now lost in his first match to Seong-uk Oh 3-1. Birol Uymaz was a way too strong for American Pedro Piedrabuena no chance.
Savas Bulut, by the way, was the first big money maker in the Final Tour: for his run of 15, scored in his second inning after a miss from the break in his first set, he took 20.000.000 won (15.000 euros). Bulut: ''This prize money was 10.000.000 won... And they changed to 20.000.000 won for this tournament. Before there was a rule: your opponent's score had to be 0. And nobody did make 15 before. I think Ma made one time, but his opponent had some points. And I think one Tour before, they changed the rules. Now they don't look at opponent points. When a player makes 15, he deserves 20.000.000 won. And I did got it...''
The group rankings after one round:
Group A:
1 Filippos Kasidokostas 2-3-1,607-7
2 HS Jung 2-2-1,529-5
3 JJ Shin 0-2-1,39-6
4 DW han 0-3-0,963-4
Group B:
1 Frédéric Caudron 2-3-2,368-10
2 JS Jung 2-3-1,800-9
3 IH Kim 0-3-0,667-3
4 SW Mun 0-3-0,611-3
Group C:
1 JW Kim 2-2-1,372-6
2 JG Kim 2-1-1,359-8
3 SP Eom 0-1,282-10
4 HM Seo 0-2-1,143-5
Group D:
1 SU Oh 2-2-1,486-9
2 BC Kim 2-1-1,324-6
3 DK Kang 0-1,278-7
4 Robinson Morales 0-2-1,056-5
Group E:
1 David Zapata 2-3-2,368-8
2 HW Kim 2-2-1,531-7
3 JP Hong 0-2-1,226-8
4 Javier Palazón 0-4-2,000-4
Group F:
1 Eddy Leppens 2-1-1,605-10
2 JH Im 2-1-1,405-6
3 Savas Bulut 0-1-1,351-15
4 MG Kang 0-1,351-7
Group G:
1 Birol Uymaz 2-3-1,957-7
2 Glenn Hofman 2-1,926-9
3 SY Yeong 0-1-2,154-7
4 Pedro Piedrabuena 0-3-0,952-4
Group H:
1 TJ Oh 2-3-1,152-5
2 Minh Cam Ma 2-1-2,031-11
3 KH Kim 0-1,742-8
4 SI Seo 0-3-1,000-4.
Eddy Leppens started with a win over four times finalist Min-gu Kang